A Workshop with Visiting Artist Jane Marsching

Our first Visiting Artist to address our research question, "How do we make a new economy?" is Boston-based, Jane Marsching.

Jane asks "What does the notion of Utopia mean to us in this uncertain time?" Integrating the words of Paolo Freire, local Cambridge utopian texts, and a playlist of utopian songs, the workshop centers on experimentation with inks made from pokeberry, buckthorn, and walnut. Participants will then make flash cards for an utopian abecedary for display at Practice Space and for exchange.

Participants are invited to take some ink home (bring a jar!)

.....Further information on the context of the workshop:

In 1516 Thomas More included a new alphabet designed for his fictional island nation in his book Utopia. This alphabet would be the writing system for a perfect imaginary world, whose name, utopia, means no place. What does the notion of utopia mean to us in this uncertain time? Using a hand carved stamp set of the utopian alphabet and inks made from invasive species, lets create an abecedary for a utopian school in 2100. What words should be included, which should be jettisoned?

In 2015 the Oxford Junior Dictionary’s new edition replaced words describing nature like buttercup and acorn with new words: broadband and chatroom. The language of technology, corporations, and media supplant the language of the natural landscapes around us. Studies have proven the correlation between a decline in play in nature with a decline in children’s overall well-being. When there are no longer words for the natural world, will we even see it?